Clarke.] Report on Steam Cultivation. 363 



In the first half of 1863, the first set of tackle did 680 acres of 

 tillage, and travelled 61 miles to do 086 quarters of thrashing-. 

 In the second half of 1863, that "set" did 638^^ acres of tillage, 

 and travelled 182^ miles, its average performance being 6 to 8 

 acres of ploughing or digging, and 14 acres of cultivating per 

 day. The work has been done on light as well as heavy land, 

 and in some cases the cultivating has been 16 inches deep on a 

 river-warp soil, for one of the Directors of the Company. 



The practice has been to finish up the work required at the 

 time upon one farm, before engaging for any particular day with 

 another farmer, and the engines have taken for next turn the 

 nearest place without respect to priority of application ; and while 

 they have sometimes passed by a little job altogether, they have 

 occasionally caught a single field " on their way," for the sake 

 of " getting coaled " on the journey. Thrashing is merely a 

 resource when tillage-work is not immediately forthcoming. 

 The "slack" seasons are just before harvest, and in "turnip 

 time." 



It is optional with an employer whether he will have his work 

 done by the acre, or hire the apparatus at 4?. 10s. per day. The 

 foreman or engine-driver of each "set" "looks out for jobs," 

 and has a number of "Diary" forms which he has to fill up, 

 leaving a "duplicate" with each farmer he works for; these 

 forms, when collected together, constituting the Company's 

 " Day-book," and acting as a safeguard against dishonesty on 

 the part of the men or of employers. Great praise is due to Mr. 

 Charles Clay for the admirable manner in which every detail of 

 organisation and arrangement has been prepared, and as a guide 

 for managers of Companies yet in embryo, we print the West 

 Riding " Diary" form, and card of prices on pp. 364, 365. 



Four men work each " set." The " foreman" has 15^. a week all 

 the year round, and 10 per cent, upon the gross earnings of his 

 apparatus, after deducting his own and the other men's wages. 

 The other engineer has 20^. or 21^. a week ; the ploughman, 19^. ; 

 the porter-man, I85. a week — a high wage, but he must be able 

 to drive the engine if wanted. If more portering be required in 

 a hilly field, the farmer finds the additional help. All four men 

 get either 1^. ^d., or else meat and beer, from the employer, 

 when they are at work. They are paid well, but then the hours 

 are "from daylight to dark," and they get nothing for "over- 

 time." In the longest slack season the ploughman and porter- 

 man are paid off. The \s. 6<i. per day is a sort of compromise 

 between piece-work and day-work ; they are not tempted to rack 

 the engines by over-driving, and they are interested in looking 

 after jobs, and in carefully working the apparatus, because the 

 Is. 6^. a day is lost when they are not at work. 



